Veterans Charity Exposed By I-Team Shuts Down

BOSTON (CBS) – A veterans charity exposed by the I-Team in April for illegally soliciting donations in Massachusetts and failing to help veterans has shut down its operations.

Rhode Island-based Veterans Community Foundation disconnected the telephone at its headquarters and took down its website and Facebook page.

This comes after the I-Team reported the charity was collecting bucket-loads of donations outside stores in Massachusetts without a state permit and providing no services to the veterans it told people it was helping.

A day after the I-Team’s story, state Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office announced it had sued the charity, charging it with deceptive fundraising tactics and failing to disclose where the money was going.

On Wednesday, the Attorney General’s office said this about Veterans Community Foundation in a statement: “Rather than provide the basic information required for all public charities, they have apparently chosen to cease operation.”

The statement went on to say the AG’s “investigation and legal action concerning VCF and the individuals behind it remain ongoing.”

deanreddington posted: “BOSTON (CBS) – A veterans charity exposed by the I-Team in April for illegally soliciting donations in Massachusetts and failing to help veterans has shut down its operations. Rhode Island-based Veterans Community Foundation disconnected the “